This document aims at giving all players the opportunity to greatly improve their game. Since I’ve followed my own advice here and reached the top of the NA ladder, the content here should be able to get any player to the same level. This document is not about current strategies or trends; it's about improving the aspects of gameplay that apply to any player despite current strategies or trends. Please note that you will receive from this document what you put into it. If you practice hard and put great amounts of effort into following this document, you will reap benefits proportional to your efforts.

[2.02] Goals and how to achieve them

You're never going to get anywhere if you don't know where you're going. Similarly, you'll never get to where you're going if you don't know how to get there. In order to achieve a goal, you first of all have to have a goal. So now ask yourself what your goals are going to be with StarCraft II. Be both realistic and decisive. My goal for myself is to improve as much as I can before college starts. If I get good enough, when the time comes, I can choose to delay college and play SCII, or go straight into college leaving all hope of professional SCII behind.

Now, in order for your goal to be achievable it has to be measureable in some way. I can measure my goal of "improving" by taking a look at my win/loss stats against good players during tournaments and practice sessions. It is absolutely key that whichever goal you choose can be measureable in some way. Having a measureable goal allows you to take pragmatic steps to achieving your goal, which is in reality the only way anything is ever achieved; by taking the necessary steps to do so.

Let us look back to my first sentence: "You're never going to get anywhere if you don't know where you're going." This means you have to have a clear goal in mind with a set and quantifiable point! You cannot have a goal of "I just want to improve my game." Imagine if a professional Baseball player had an overall goal of "playing the game better". If this Baseball player's whole mindset revolved around getting better he would end up chasing an arbitrary sentence without any real direction, thus wasting all his effort until he eventually gives up out of frustration. Now imagine if this Baseball player focused his mind on hitting successive line-drives over the head of the shortstop between left and middle field, allowing him to easily get onto first base. Since his goal is precise (the opposite of vague) it's easy to imagine the sort of realistic and achievable steps he can take in order to accomplish his task.